AMATEUR SURGEONS 



From our camp, which stood on a hill overlooking 

 the great stretch of tall waving grass country dotted 

 here and there with huts, we could see Mount Wati in 

 the north-east, and the Legworo country, through which 

 the Osso and Insa run towards the Nile, as well as the 

 numerous hills that lie to the north-west, so that we 

 could form a good idea of the direction in which we should 

 travel. While at Naramba's village we found that eggs were 

 so plentiful that we had an omelet containing twenty- 

 seven. On resuming our march we had got about a 

 quarter of a mile from the huts when I noticed that there 

 was a hullabaloo behind. It appeared that some slaves 

 whom Naramba had captured from the people further 

 on were trying to make their escape by getting in among 

 our boys; but Naramba's people were too sharp, and 

 detected them before it was too late. Half a dozen of 

 his warriors came tearing down the hill and dragged the 

 unfortunate struggling slaves back to the village. We 

 took two of the villagers, who had volunteered to come 

 to the next camp with us and act as interpreters, taking 

 payment in cloth. They got there all right with us, 

 but I learnt from Naramba on my return journey that 

 they had never returned, and it was generally believed 

 that these unfortunates, although trying to sneak back 

 in the night, were waylaid and figured on the menu of 

 some village's repast the next day. I was sorry to hear 

 this, for we had offered them a place in our safari on the 

 same terms as the rest of our carriers, and it would at 

 least have been safer for them to come with us for the 

 long journey than to return over the fifteen miles that 

 we had left behind since leaving Naramba. One or two 

 of our boys could speak the language of the people here 

 a little, but it would have been very much better for us 

 to have had two of the villagers themselves. Unfortu- 

 nately the natives of the Congo have not hitherto experi- 

 enced such treatment at the hands of the white man as 



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